title: Genetic genealogy reveals true Y haplogroup of House of Bourbon contradicting recent identification of the presumed remains of two French Kings.
abstract: Genetic analysis strongly increases the opportunity to identify skeletal remains or other biological samples from historical figures. However, validation of this identification is essential and should be done by DNA typing of living relatives. Based on the similarity of a limited set of Y-STRs, a blood sample and a head were recently identified as those belonging respectively to King Louis XVI and his paternal ancestor King Henry IV. Here, we collected DNA samples from three living males of the House of Bourbon to validate the since then controversial identification of these remains. The three living relatives revealed the Bourbon's Y-chromosomal variant on a high phylogenetic resolution for several members of the lineage between Henry IV and Louis XVI. This 'true' Bourbon's variant is different from the published Y-STR profiles of the blood as well as of the head. The earlier identifications of these samples can therefore not be validated. Moreover, matrilineal genealogical data revealed that the published mtDNA sequence of the head was also different from the one of a series of relatives. This therefore leads to the conclusion that the analyzed samples were not from the French kings. Our study once again demonstrated that in order to realize an accurate genetic identification of historical remains DNA typing of living persons, who are paternally or maternally related with the presumed donor of the samples, is required.
authors.affiliation: 1] Laboratory of Forensic Genetics and Molecular Archaeology, UZ Leuven, Leuven, Belgium [2] Forensic Biomedical Sciences, Department of Imaging and Pathology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium [3] Laboratory of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Genomics, Department of Biology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Maarten H D
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Larmuseau
authors.affiliation: Independent researcher, Versailles, France.
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Delorme
authors.affiliation: Independent researcher; Saint-Lary, France.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Germain
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Forensic Genetics and Molecular Archaeology, UZ Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Vanderheyden
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Forensic Genetics and Molecular Archaeology, UZ Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gilissen
authors.affiliation: 1] Laboratory of Forensic Genetics and Molecular Archaeology, UZ Leuven, Leuven, Belgium [2] Laboratory of Socioecology and Social Evolution, Department of Biology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Anneleen
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Van Geystelen
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Forensic Genetics and Molecular Archaeology, UZ Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Jean-Jacques
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Cassiman
authors.affiliation: 1] Laboratory of Forensic Genetics and Molecular Archaeology, UZ Leuven, Leuven, Belgium [2] Forensic Biomedical Sciences, Department of Imaging and Pathology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Ronny
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Decorte
mesh_terms: D041322:Chromosomes, Human, Y; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D018732:Forensic Anthropology; D005789:Genealogy and Heraldry; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010802:Phylogeny; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial